Qigong and Exercise Therapy for Low Back Pain in Adults

Randomized Multicenter Trial on the Effectiveness of Qigong and a Stabilizing Exercise Therapy in Patients With Low Back Pain

The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of qigong for the treatment of low back pain compared to a stabilizing exercise therapy.

Inclusion Criteria:

• clinical diagnosis of chronic low back pain since at least 3 months and complaints for a maximum duration of 5 years
• low back pain more prominent than other pain in the spine
• average pain intensity of the last 7 days more or equal to 40 mm measured by a visual analogue scale (VAS 0 - 100 mm)
• intellectual and physical ability to participate in the study
• informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• low back pain related to malignancy
• low back pain due to an accident
• inflammatory joint disorders
• previous spine surgery
• protrusion/prolapse of a spinal disk, spondylolisthesis, with radicular symptomatology
• actually doing or planning to do other regular physical exercise during the study with possible positive effects on low back pain - such as swimming, yoga, pilates, tai chi, etc.
• planning to do another therapy during the study with possible positive effects in low back pain, such as physiotherapy, acupuncture, massage, spinal manipulation etc.
• use of pain drugs for other diseases (> 1x/week)
• pregnancy
• severe chronic or acute disease interfering with therapy attendance
• alcohol or substance abuse
• participation in another clinical trial in the last 6 months before study entry